Portrait: AI-generated imagined likeness
Poet · Writer · Politician
Poet and bureaucrat of the Tang Dynasty. Also known as Hakurakuten, he wrote poems about society and life in easy-to-understand language, and had a strong influence on Japanese literature. He is a person who thinks about the East Asian cultural sphere.
View in catalogChang'an
Work
Luoyang
Residence
Song of Everlasting Regret
c. 806
Poem
Pipa Xing
c. 816
Poem
Middle Tang literary culture
800–846
Cultural event · Participant
Map: Natural Earth (PD)
Born into a family of samurai who aspired to become a bureaucrat in the Tang Dynasty, he became a bureaucrat through the imperial examinations. He was involved in both politics and literature in Chang'an and other provinces, and used poetry to criticize society and express personal feelings.
He left behind works such as ``Choganga'' and ``Biwagyo,'' and spread a simple style of poetry that was easy to reach readers. He also composed New Rakufu poems that included political criticism, demonstrating the role of literati and bureaucrats in speaking about society.
Bai Juyi's poems were loved not only in China but also in Japan's aristocratic society, and influenced works such as The Tale of Genji. This is an example of a poet's work transcending national borders and becoming a cultural lingua franca.
Bai Juyi is a figure who shows that Tang literature became the basis of education and expression throughout East Asia. By studying him, you can understand the process by which poetry, bureaucracy, diplomacy, and aristocratic culture were linked in the kanji-cultured area, and his works were passed down as literary norms for future generations.
